EXCLUSIVE Couple locked in bitter feud with builder neighbour claim they have spent over £200k fixing home renovation gone wrong

Daily Mail​

07-06-2025

It was supposed to be a simple extension that would turn a small 1930s bungalow into one couple's dream home.
But for Samantha Wright, 46, and her partner Craig Smith, 54, their routine build turned into a toxic two-year-long nightmare that has left them facing a £200,000 bill due to the alleged fault of their own neighbour.
The couple from Grimsby, Lincolnshire, say contractor Cristian Wooller, who has strongly denied the allegations, abandoned the job before it was finished.
They claim not only was their house left as a building site, they have had to tear up the work that was done and start again.
Therefore despite saying they paid their nextdoor neighboor £90,000 for the work, they have had to fork out another £140,000 to have it all redone brick by brick.
Mr Wooller has disputed Samantha and Craig's version of events, saying the fee was not paid in full and he was pushed off the job. He also says all the work he did was cleared by building inspectors.
Now, nearly two years after they started the work, the couple are yet to move into their new home and are filled with trepidation for when they do as the builder they blame for their problems is still living next door.
Samantha, who has called for greater regulation of the building industry, said: 'The mental impact of it has been absolutely terrible.
'I struggle to concentrate and have a lack of trust. There's been times when I have been at the property and I've been properly shaking.
'I've said to my work colleague that you need to come with me just to collect post from the property.'
Samantha explained that the issues began when they bought an old bungalow in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, after saving up for five years.
They planned to put in a first-floor extension and transform the property into their 'dream home' in September 2023.
Samantha said they also wanted to increase the ground-floor footprint by around five metres and update the roof.
The 46-year-old told MailOnline: 'We spoke to a number of local builders, they gave us rough ideas of the price.
'Our actual neighbour was also a builder and we had been friends with him for nearly two years.
'He told us about what he'd done in the past. He initially said that he wasn't prepared to take on just doing an extension for somebody. Then he changed his mind.'
However, Samantha said the problems with Mr Wooller first arose when it came to agreeing the price of the extension.
'It was supposed to be £85,000. Then the cost went from £85,000 to £89,000,' she said.
'Then there were issues found with the building allegedly and the cost went to £106,000. Then he tried to put it up to over £130,000.
'We had saved money and he knew that because he had lived next to us for a couple of years.
'We said look, we can't afford to keep this bill to keep increasing. We've agreed £106,000 in writing. That's that.
'Then the job went back on track but within two weeks it was the same situation - where he tried to increase the price again.
'This time it worked out to be something like £148,000. We said, no, this is what happened. You agreed £106,000.'
It was at this point Samantha claimed their nextdoor neighbour walked away from the job, although he disputes this, leaving them in 'absolute shock'.
She said: 'We'd spent £90,000 of the money that we'd saved up. We only had a bit left to try to finish the property.
'We then went down the route of trying to find new builders and had meetings with building control.
'In the end, the issues with the property were so bad it had to be taken down a bit at a time and then rebuilt.
'It was just so unsafe. Everything was wrong with it.
'The insulation was put in wrong so the house didn't have a roof, windows or doors, but did have rising damp already.'
She added: 'Because he'd been our neighbour stupidly, we thought, you know, he's not going to do a bad job. He lives literally next door to us.
'Then things started to go wrong, and we double checked everything.
'He comes from the Leeds area and had been taken to court by another person I got in touch with.
'They won their case and then he bankrupted himself and was banned from being a company director.
'But that doesn't stop you from being a sole trader.
'There isn't any regulation in place. There's nothing that stops this guy from being a builder in this country at all.
'The government needs to do something. I used to be a bank manager years ago. If I had complaints against me I would be struck off.
'My sister works for a care home, and if she got complaints against her, she would be struck off.'
Samantha said that she did consider taking the builder to court but there was no guarantee they would get their money back even if they did win.
'In the meantime, he actually tried to take me to court. After we only paid the £90,000 we took legal advice on whether we should pay the rest,' she explained.
'The advice was absolutely not, so we didn't pay it.
'He then tried to take me personally to small claims court on the grounds that we hadn't done that.
'So that cost me in excess of £5,000 to defend the claim.'
Speaking about why she and Craig still want to move back into the bungalow, Samantha said: 'A question that gets asked a lot is surely you wouldn't want to move back in next to him.
'Me and my partner will always say, but we haven't done anything wrong.
'It's our dream house so that is the stance we are taking.'
Mr Wooller has strongly denied all the allegations against him.
He told MailOnline: 'The amount paid to us was £53,000 for labour and materials over the period we worked on the house.
'As requested, Sam was provided a full breakdown of everything and she was extremely involved throughout the 12 week period.
'This was a no-profit "mates rates" job, as her neighbours and friends, all materials were paid at cost and receipts forwarded to Sam so we all knew the costings.
'Problems arose as it became clear her original house was in an almost derelict state and this caused a lot of extra work, hence the original estimate given at the start changed by approximately £30,000.
'Ultimately they said they had run out of funds.
'Sam then became very difficult to communicate with and then threw us off the job. In front of witnesses she said if ever we went back on her property she would have us "done for trespassing".
'This had all come out of the blue and I did not even have my tools. The building then stood untouched for a year.
'Because of its unfinished state and the fact they declined advice to strengthen foundations and a harsh winter, with seven storms and gale force winds, the house it seems took some damage.
'I must also express that every stage of the build while we were on it was passed by the Building Inspectors.
'It's very hard to finish a job when you've been thrown off, threatened with trespass, not paid and ,ignored when you try to communicate and offer a way out which I did multiple times to no avail.
'Sam knows she is welcome to put any questions she has to us directly but she refuses to communicate.
'We did start proceedings through the small claims court for the final invoice including expenses such as machine hire totalling nearly £4,000 however due to costs we found it too emotionally draining and ineffective financially.
'The system seems unfair to builders who have been badly treated by customers. Our solicitor received a list of points they were claiming were wrong, and I answered every single one.
'These are still available for her should she wish to have them. We gave up on going to court and a drop hands offer was sent however yet again there was no response from Sam or her solicitor.'